Lembhard family, pol press gov on prosecutor

CITY OF NEWBURGH — A city councilwoman and members and supporters of Michael Lembhard's family presented a united front at a news conference outside City Hall Wednesday night.

BY MICHAEL RANDALL

CITY OF NEWBURGH — A city councilwoman and members and supporters of Michael Lembhard's family presented a united front at a news conference outside City Hall Wednesday night.

Their goal: Getting Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the 22-year-old Lembhard's fatal shooting by city police a week earlier.

The City Council voted to ask Cuomo to name a special prosecutor Friday, and City Manager Richard Herbek delivered it on Monday. City Councilwoman Gay Lee said as of Wednesday night they had heard no answer.

Lee and community activist Omari Shakur both said at the news conference that Cuomo needs to act on the request as soon as possible.

"We don't want this to turn into a circus," Lee said. She added that the request is not an attack on the police, but simply an effort to get a clear picture of what happened by bringing it an outsider.

"We all want to find out what happened in that room," Shakur said.

Lee said she was speaking on behalf of herself, the city and about 250 residents who already had signed a petition asking Cuomo to act on the special prosecutor request.

She and Shakur said the petition should bolster the council's request. A number of people who showed up for the news conference added their signatures to the petition.